WEALTH AND HIERARCHY

IN THE INTERMEDIATE AREA

A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks

10TH AND 1 ITH OCTOBER 1987

Frederick W. Lange, Editor

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Washington, D.C.
 Copyright © 1992 by Dumbarton Oaks

Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of COllgress Catalogillg-ill-Publicatioll Data

Wealth and hierarchy in the Intermediate Area: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, loth
and 1lIh October 1987 I Frederick W. Lange, editor.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88402-191-2
I. Indians of Central America-Antiquities-Congresses. 2. Indians of Central America-
Social life and customs-Congresses. 3. Indians of Central America-Economic
conditions-Congresses. 4. Central America-Antiquities-Congresses. 5. Social
status-Central America-Congresses. I.
Lange, Frederick W., 1944-.
F1434·W43 1991 90-43419
305. 897-dC20
I
6

Wealth and Hierarchy in the Archaeology

of Eastern and Central Costa Rica
MICHAEL J. SNARSKIS
UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA

INTRODUCTION

T
HE STUDY OF WEALTH AND HIERARCHY in Pre-Columbian cultures
requires a specific framework of analysis, in which the variables to
be observed are clearly defined. Such studies must necessarily be
comparative, as wealth and hierarchy in human societies are always relative.
Archaeological interpretations involve the drawing of inferences from
observable remains, such as artifacts, features, and settlement patterns.
These inferences frequently have to do with social or political organization,
intangible concepts that cannot be directly investigated.
In eastern and central Costa Rica, concrete evidence suggestive of wealth
and hierarchy appeared a little more than 2,000 years ago, in contexts
indicative of non-egalitarian sociopolitical organization. How should we
characterize these societies? Are concepts like chiefdom universally applica-
ble, or are those of Mexico, say, different from those in prehistoric Costa
Rica?
Many authors have analyzed the facets of social organization that are
present in chiefdoms or rank societies. A question that merits discussion
here is whether or not the two terms can be considered synonyms. If not,
can we establish and recognize the difference between the two?
In this chapter, I have abstracted some of the attributes used to define
ranklchiefdom (RIC) societies, mostly those used by Fried (1967). Those
chosen have, to my mind, the best chance of being recognized in Costa
Rican archaeological contexts, especially those involving objects. They
include:
I. Environment: Most RIC societies occupy rich, varied, or otherwise
desirable areas, while egalitarian societies tend to occupy marginal lands.
2. Demography: RIC societies have a much higher rate of ~opulation
growth and a higher population density than egalitarian societies.

141
Michael]. Snarskis
3. Subsistence economy: RIC societies have a more certain, concentrated,
usually domesticated food supply. Redistribution of goods is key in
maintaining the social order. Individuals carry out different tasks according
to their age and sex, or according to the society's special demands (craft
specialization). Rank-specific or sumptuary artifacts occur.
4. Settlement patterns: Sedentism predominates. Among RIC societies,
a given area has more, larger, and more densely concentrated sites than is
the case for egalitarian societies.
5. External relations: Warfare, usually stimulated by competition for
resources, is common. Middle- and long-distance exchange may occur.
A structured kinship framework with emphasis on descent relationships
is very important in RIC societies, but is more difficult to observe in
archaeological sites. It is important to note, as Spencer (19 87= 377-37 8)
does, that the development of a cultural matrix supportive of the appearance
of wealth and hierarchy is frequently due to multiple factors (not always
the same ones) that must blend to produce RIC-type adaptation.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FROM EASTERN AND CENTRAL COSTA RICA
1000--300 B.C.
The earliest radiocarbon-dated pottery-making culture, the La Montana
Phase in the central Atlantic watershed, was identified in 1977 (Snarskis
n.d.; 1984a). Ofa sample of 7,000 sherds studied by the author 99 percent
were monochrome, showing many modes of decoration and vessel form
unique in the Costa Rica ceramic sequence. Especially notable was the
predominance of tecomate-like forms, and the presence of large, perfectly
flat, raised-rim griddles. The latter are known as budares in northern South
America and are frequently associated with bitter manioc preparation.
Stone artifacts include a distinctive type of flat-faced or beveled mano,
"cleavers" made on volcanic cobble spalls, and a small amount of chipped
tools. No metates were found.
Although a 13 by 22 m area was carefully excavated by trowel, no
hearths, postholes, or other features were found, possibly because the site
was subjected to flooding in prehistoric times. Stone tools and numerous
pottery sherds with carbon deposits were often found lying flat in a
horizontal plane, suggestive of living surfaces. A small tripod bowl of
volcanic rock and a polished slate celt were found together in a possible
cache or burial. No bone was preserved, and carbonized avocado pits and
unspecified palm kernels (Richard Ford and C. Earle Smith, Jr., personal
communications, 1978, 1985) are the only recognized flora to date. Five
142
The Archaeology ofEastem and Central Costa Rica
radiocarbon dates range from 1500 to 300 B.C., clustering around 600 B.C.
(Snarskis 1984a, 1984b).
Later in 1977, the Chaparron Complex, a very well-made pottery
assemblage typified by the tecomate form and shiny red slip zoned by broad
incised lines, was first recognized in the northeastern lowlands of Costa
Rica. Fewer than 1,000 sherds have been collected, and there are no
radiocarbon dates, although Chaparron ceramics are much like others of
the Mesoamerican Middle Pre-Classic Period and also share many modes
of form and decoration with the La Montana complex; it is thought that
they were basically contemporary.
After the initial definition and dating of La Montana and Chaparron,
small quantities of similar sherds began to be recognized at several other
multi-component sites in the central Atlantic watershed, the Central Valley
or highlands (Barba complex; Snarskis 1981), Guanacaste (Loma B complex;
Lange 1980), and the Arenal region (Tronadora complex; Hoopes 1984).
(In Panama, sites with La Mula/Sarigua pottery may be similar.)
A very well-made pottery showing considerable vessel size is a better
indicator of sedentism than agriculture per se (it is virtually certain that the
ceramics just discussed are not the earliest in Costa Rica), but the paucity
of direct and indirect evidence for cultigens is notable. Nevertheless, I
believe that the period 100--300 B.C. was characterized by small, highly
dispersed villages dependent on swidden agriculture, perhaps with root
crops as a staple. I say this because of the markedly different mano and
ceramic vessel forms, but the fact is that not enough evidence is in hand,
and such a generalization is highly tentative.
Let us compare the scant data for this period with the diagnostics for
RIC societies.
I. Environment: The Costa Rican landscape is so uniformly receptive
to human occupation, when compared to other areas of the Americas, that
little of significance can be said (although see Findlow, Snarskis, and Martin
1979)·
2. Demography: Apparently population growth was slow, and density
was relatively low.
3. Subsistence economy: Evidence is lacking or ambiguous as regards
agriculture, task specialization, and redistribution. Rank-specific or sumptu-
ary artifacts are not yet known.
4. Settlement patterns: Form and size ofhouses and villages are unknown;
sites are highly dispersed and scarce.
5. External relations: Unknown.
Based on present evidence, it must be concluded that the cultures present
in eastern and central Costa Rica between 1000 and 300 B.t.
were not
RiC societies.
143
Michael J. Snarskis
300 B. C-A.D. 500
On ceramic evidence, there seems to have been a transitional period ca.
500-200 B.c. Stratigraphic data do not exist, however, and this chapter
uses 300 B.C. as an arbitrary starting point for the next phase of cultural
evolution in Costa Rica. This was also the earliest date proposed by the
first scientific stratigraphic excavators in the country (Claude Baudez and
Michael Coe, in the 1950S), and one adopted by succeeding investigators
for many years after.
The several centuries around the time of Christ represent a significant
threshold in Costa Rican prehistory. During the El Bosque (central Atlantic
watershed; Snarskis n.d., 1984a) and Pavas (Central Highlands; Aguilar
1975, 1976) Phases, there was a dramatic increase in the number and size
of sites (as evidenced by artifact scatters), and therefore of population.
Many new elite-associated artifacts were found, such as elaborately sculpted
ceremonial metates, symbolic mace heads, ceramic figurines, ocarinas and
rattles, and an extraordinary lapidary corpus executed in jade or similar
hard, greenstones (all called jade hereafter).
I have proposed a hypothetical model (Snarskis 1981 , 1984a) to explain
the expansion of population around the time of Christ in Costa Rica. The
model suggests that population expansion was the result of a dynamic
feedback relationship between (a) the evolution of improved and intensified
maize agriculture (probably with better varieties), (b) the budding of new
communities and increasing need to obtain and insure land tenure, (c) the
ritualization of cyclical agricultural procedures, and (d) the administration
of the redistribution of food products and other articles. Warrior, priest,
and administrative (cacique or chiefly) classes evolved to handle these duties,
resulting in a strongly ranked society and creating a market for luxury
items that were at the same time badges of office. These badges included
the ritual metates (apparently a major sculptural vehicle for religious
symbolism); the mace heads, which may have been ritual digging stick
weights as well as rank symbols; and carvedjade pendants, many incorporat-
ing the form of a celt, or polished axe. Two things are significant here:
ritual symbolism seems to have focused on aspects of agriculture, from the
clearing of land (real celts were forest-clearing tools), to planting (possible
digging-stick weights), fertility (the Maya hieroglyph for jade was similar
to those for water and seed), and processing of food (the metates); and the
tradition of jade carving in the Americas made its first appearance in the
Olmec culture of Mesoamerica around 1000 B.C.
Therefore, I suggest that more intensive maize agriculture and/or better
varieties of maize as well as a reverence for carved jade amulets were
integral components in a mythical complex or politicoreligious world view
that was propagated in the northern half of Costa Rica through an elite-
144
The Archaeology ojEastern and Central Costa Rica
oriented trade or transfer network that included the heirs of the Gulf Coast
Olmec cultural tradition around 600-400 B.C. In that cultural tradition, the
symbolism ofjade celts and avian effigies (which are precisely the elements
combined in the majority of Costa Rican "axe-god" jade pendants) was
linked to maize (Drucker 1952: 164; Joralemon 1976: 47-58). Recently, the
first excavations of houses dating to A.D. 1-400 in the Atlantic lowlands
revealed them to be rectangular, while bell-shaped storage pits of the same
period, containing mostly carbonized maize, along with more than ten
other kinds of flora, have been found in the Central Highlands (Snarskis
1983). Like the jade, these features clearly echo Mesoamerican cultural
patterns of the Pre-Classic Period, although perhaps indigenous traditions
of human adaptation to the tropical rain forest formed the real core, over
which Mesoamerican mythology, between approximately 300 B.C. and A.D.
500, merely formed a veneer.
At the Severo Ledesma site in the eastern lowlands, the earliest structures
known for the region were excavated in 1978-79 (Snarskis 1981, 1983).
Guided by very slight mounds, we uncovered two rectangular foundations
roughly 4 by 12 m defined by large cobbles standing on edge, with groups
of cobbles on the interior. Each of these El Bosque structures had two
cobbles with concavities along an interior wall; the concavities were smooth,
but of different shapes, and function is uncertain; they are probably mortars.
Possible hearths were observed outside the houses, as were several caches
or burials. The latter contained numerous artifacts of pottery and stone,
but no tomb edifice per se was found.
A large (25 by 15m) rectangular complex of wall foundations, built of
river cobbles, was also excavated at Severo Ledesma. Chocked holes up to
50 cm in diameter were observed where roof-supporting timbers had been
along the perimeter and interior walls. There were three main rectangular
sections, the center one containing many more cobbles; perhaps it was
unroofed. Palm nuts, mano and metate fragments, and charcoal were scattered
within the structure, but no definite hearths could be discerned. Underneath
the structure, numerous caches and/or burials were discovered; some of
the burials were defined by standing rows of cobbles, and one, in spite of
having been partially disturbed by looters, contained twenty-seven pieces
of grave furniture, including a jade necklace, the plate of a flying-panel
metate, fancy ceramic tripods, ocarinas, rattles, roller stamps, and celts. No
bones were preserved, but the quantity and quality of the grave goods, the
2-m depth, and the central placement in one of the three rectangular sections
of the structure (another burial, less elaborate, was found in a similar
location in the opposing section) all point to an obviously special interment
(Fig. I).
We also see that the smaller El Bosque Phase houses, given their roofed
areas (roughly 40 m 2), probably housed nuclear families; associated tombs
145
Michael]. Snarskis
The Archaeology ofEastern and Central Costa Rica

Fig. 2 The principal tomb un-

covered during salvage excava-
tions at the Talamanca de Tibas
site (ca. A.D. 300). The body
of a young adult lay on a bier
made of three tripod metates,
accompanied by two ceremo-
nial mace heads ofquartzite and
a large jade "axe-god," all with
avian motifs. An Olmec-style
jade clamshell lay face down
on the other side of the bier
and a multi-strand jade neck-
lace of disk beads and three
Fig. I A prestige burial 2 m beneath a large £1 Bosque Phase (100 B.C.-A.D. 400)
larger beads of different colors
rectangular house. The 27 pieces of grave furniture included elaborate ceramic
was found 50 em to one side.
tripod vessels, flutes, rattles, figurines, a jade disk bead necklace with larger central
Museo Nacional de Costa Rica,
pendant (found in muddy center area, probably worn by the deceased-no bones
San Jose. Photograph by the
were preserved), and a fragmented flying-panel metate of the style shown in the author.
insert. All artifacts in Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose. Tomb photograph
by the author; insert by Dirk Bakker, Founders' Society, Detroit Institute of Arts.

were simple affairs dug into the subsoil around the house, and there were
no prestige burials or caches placed beneath the floor itself. Nevertheless,
a well-defined sociopolitical/religious hierarchy is suggested by the much
larger double structure with complex high-status tomb features and offerings
both beneath and around it. There are about 100 m between each of these
structures at Severo Ledesma, but they do not show a standard orientation;
entrances in the smaller versions are not clear, nor do we know the size of
the village to which they belong. Modern houses in the locality are spaced
50-]00 m from each other, often reflecting extended family groupings.
It might be said that most "architecture" in prehistoric eastern Costa
Rica is found underground. EI Bosque Phase cemeteries are extensive,
many covering five to twenty acres, the tombs often being fairly elaborate
constructions of river cobbles. These cobbles, some of which weigh more
than 100 kg, were carried from river beds anywhere from 50 m to several
kilometers distant. EI Bosque tomb forms observed to date are I by 2 m
rectangles of cobbles, ellipses, long corridors up to 12 m, or simply a
scooped oval area in the subsoil, with no cobble edifice. Tombs in the
larger cemeteries always have walls of cobbles and are usually long
rectangles, often ordered neatly in ranks and files, with a space between
groups of 15 to ]0, if we can judge by one example at Severo Ledesma.
There, everyone of thirteen adjoining rectangular tombs included a jade
pendant among other ceramic and stone grave goods; the pendants were
usually found face up on the tomb floor, probably worn around the neck
of the deceased. All the tombs in this carefully organized block had
additional cobble-defined chambers at each end.
These tomb groups may correspond to clan, lineage, or other social
units. Because we have not found a single bone or tooth (acid soil and
heavy rainfall make preservation virtually non-existent), I cannot confidently

146
147
Michael]. Snarskis
Fig. 3 The large (33 cm) jade clamshell found at Talamanca de Tibas has a complex
low relief carving on the interior: a human hand with a bow on the wrist grasps a
composite animal, part feline (snarling jaguar), part insect (moth or butterfly with
wings folded down by the hand). All these motifs are known from La Venta Phase
Olmec sites, and it is thought that the piece was an heirloom, evidence of long-
distance trade with Mesoamerica in centuries around the time of Christ. Materials
in Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose. Photograph by Dirk Bakker, Founders'
Society, Detroit Institute of Arts.
say that all burials, no matter how humble, are accompanied by grave
goods. However, this seems to be the case; ceramics are ubiquitous, often
arranged in the typical EI Bosque fashion of one pot inverted over the
mouth of another, an arrangement probably indicating that they contained
foodstuffs. Drug use is also indicated by other articles of this time, for
instance pipes and nasal snuffers; they have been found only in special
contexts as elite grave goods.
In late 1977 archaeologists under the auspices of the National Museum of
Costa Rica excavated part of an elite cemetery in the San Jose suburb of
Tibas, in the salvage effort. Among the Tibas graves that were scientifically
excavated was an exceptional one containing three Atlantic style tripod
metates on which the deceased was laid, a broken early Curridabat Phase
ceramic vessel, two ceremonial mace heads, an exceptional 22-cm-Iongjade
axe-god of typical Costa Rican style, and an Olmec jade clamshell 33 cm in
length with a complex low-relief composition on its interior (Figs. 2, 3).
An element-by-element analysis of the piece's design showing why it may
be considered as Olmec has been published elsewhere (Snarskis 1979).
The Costa Rican artifacts that accompanied it can be placed between
approximately A.D. 100 and 400 through comparative stylistic analysis (there
are no radiocarbon dates), so the jade clamshell was an heirloom. Bone
preservation was very poor, but the dental eruption pattern that could be
148
The Archaeology ojEastem and Central Costa Rica
observed for the individual buried in this tomb showed him to be between
18 and 25 years old (David Weaver and Ricardo Vazquez, personal commu-
nication, 1978), relatively young to possess or merit such exceptional mortu-
ary goods, and most probably indicative of inherited high status. Looters'
tales and some artifacts in Costa Rican collections give further support, albeit
unscientific, for the presence in Costa Rica of elite objects deriving from
long-distance trade at or before the time ofChrist. These objects were almost
all from Mesoamerica, and many, perhaps most, were heirlooms.
In another burial in the Tibas cemetery, a ceramic monkey effigy vessel
(bridge-and-spout style), of the Rosales Zoned Engraved type of the Zoned
Bichrome Period in Guanacaste, was recovered. Two ceremonial mace heads
and a single, cylindrical jade bead accompanied it. A total of twenty-five
ceremonial mace heads (with mostly avian and two anthropomorphic mo-
tifs) were found, some in contexts disturbed by looters. In Tibas, then, we
found a definite product· of long-distance contact with Mesoamerica and
solid evidence of ties to Greater Nicoya in the form of the ceramic monkey
and, perhaps, some of the jades and mace heads.
Another artifact type found in Costa Rica that demonstrates the existence
oflong-distance trade during this period is Usulutan pottery. Unfortunately,
it has never been excavated by archaeologists in a secure chronological
context. Stone (1973) illustrates two Usulutan vessels in a private collection
that are said to be from EI Hacha, Guanacaste. Some years ago, an Izalco-
variety Usulutan vessel was donated to the Museo Nacional; it had been
looted by an acquaintance of a Museum board member from a farm near
Chaparron, San Carlos. The author later saw ten to fifteen other vessels that
had been taken from the cemetery, and they were clearly a local variant of
the EI Bosque complex. F. W. Lange (personal communication, 1978) has
also reported finding Usulutan sherds in Guanacaste from surface collec-
tions.
Stone and Balser (1965) illustrate slate mirror backs (some incised with
Early Classic Mesoamerican motifs), local jades, and cast-gold objects they
consider to be of Colombian style, all associated with EI Bosque or La Selva
Phase ceramics, from a site near Severo Ledesma. Unfortunately, the critical
association depends on the word of a looter.
The figurines and ceramic vessel adomos of this period represent a rich
array of symbolically costumed persons, not studied systematically to date.
The author has observed countless such figurines portraying warriors cos-
tumed for battle with feather capes and zoomorphic headdresses, and even
personages with chests cut open, carried on litters by four others. Prior to
this period, ceramic figurines are virtually unknown (Figs. 4, 5).
Twelve EI Bosque sites have been partially excavated (more than 2000 m 2
exposed), along with many others of the similar Pavas Phase in the central
highlands. Pottery of this period (300 B.C.-A.D.500) is that most frequently
149

Michael J. Snarskis
Fig. 4 Broken long-legged ceramic vessels strewn over the top of a Curridabat
Phase tomb (A.D. 300-500) at the Pesa Vieja site. in what seems to be an act of
conspicuous destruction related to funerary ceremonies. Photograph by the author.
seen in eastern and central Costa Rica. Did RIC societies develop during
this time? Let us analyze the information in hand.
1. Environment: El Bosque/Pavas sites are known at elevations from
9. 000 feet to sea level. always near rich soils.
2. Demography: Population growth was rapid. and extensive colonizing
of new zones is apparent. Density calculations must await further excava-
tions.
3. Subsistence economy: Maize and palm nuts, probably pejibaye, are
known from El Bosque sites. while Pavas bell-shaped storage pits have
yielded thousands of kernels and many cobs of at least three maize varieties.
two varieties of common bean palm nuts, jobo (Spondias mombin). guapinol
(Hymenea courbaril), achiote, Sapotaceae of two kinds. and cotton. as well as
other unidentified fruits (Robert McK. Bird. C. Earle Smith. Jr., L. Kaplan.
personal communications, 1978-85). A varied agriculture is obvious. Task
specialization and elite-associated sumptuary/symbolic artifacts are numer-
ous. Warrior. shaman and fertility motifs abound. as well as manos. metates,
and pestles.
ISO
The Archaeology oj Eastern and Central Costa Rica
Fig. 5 The same ceramic debris shown in situ in Fig. 4 is shown here washed and
displayed; the vessel bodies in foreground had hollow tripod supports. most with
clay pellet rattles (background). Artifacts in Archaeology Laboratory. University
of Costa Rica. San Pedro. Photograph by the author.
4. Settlement patterns: Semidispersed sedentary agricultural villages of
unknown size and complexity; rather labor-intensive, large houses, and
obviously rank-differentiated burials.
5. External relations: Important warfare indicated by warrior figures and
trophy-head cult; some regional and long-distance trade in elite-oriented
symbols ofstatus Gades. slate-backed pyrite mirrors, very small amounts of
speci,rJ>pottery) .
The relatively large number of ceramic and stone sculptural elements
showing persons with elaborate masks, headdresses. and other gear, usually
with zoomorphic motifs, indicate a complex religious belief system. Al-
though pan-regional surveys are needed for confirmation, I believe RIC
societies began during this period in Costa Rica.
A.D. 5°0-15°0
In the two or three centuries around A.D. 500. striking changes took place
in the Pre-Columbian cultures of Atlantic and central Costa Rica. Gold
casting replaced lapidary work in jadelike stones as a source of ritually
151
Michael]. Snarskis
SITE 28-CN-BARRIAL DE HEREDIA
significant symbols of elite status, ceramic styles changed markedly, stone
cist tomb types replaced rectangular or "corridor-shaped" tombs without
floor or lid, and circular, rather than rectangular, houses came to be the 1
°cF
80~ 0

preferred form; the last is very probably indicative ofa significant shift in ~:¥::!a or It- q,'b Cobblee
the dominant Pre-Columbian cosmogony in Costa Rica. All these elements, oK, ,.~

-
t'f~~
Cobble foundallon
especially metallurgy and circular houses, have earlier roots in northern ~ Flegetone
Hearth
South America. The cultural processes behind their eventual domination in t:b~

~~
"~~6'

·m
Oven
most of Costa Rica are still unclear. :.~}.:.:.:~ MIdden
The La Selva (Atlantic) and Curridabat (Central Highlands) Phases span P!dS 0
,"-,

~
,_.-' Flekee
this important transitional period, approximately A.D. 300/400 to 700. Few o Poal/llold

: ~:I'~. t.
o MOUND II
single component sites have been excavated, and more work is needed to
refine these phases (Fig. 6).
'Y.. ,...",..,
The succeeding La Cabana and Cartago Phases are much better known.

t-1.~
Only a handful of the nucleated villages made up of circular mounds/cobble
foundations and cobble-paved causeways have been even partially exposed, <:>.""
o "" •
'Fo ~ "-... , 0

1; 't~•• -, • ", .~..

although they are relatively easy to find and were the only kinds of sites 00 <::>,. 0.:0 <:>

8". ~~i/lo -KiT ~o

'b6P .. \ "'0
known for many years in the country. The first was Las Mercedes in the o . '.... 0 0 ••

eastern lowlands, found when Minor Keith put the Old Line railroad <::>" 0> J' ""0 q
~I o ..B
~. '•

° ~
through the middle of it. Carl Hartman excavated parts of it almost ninety ..... ()o

years ago (Hartman 1901) and drew a map showing the main mound 20 m
in diameter at the top of its 6-m height, faced with cobbles. On three sides
....·0..
-,o!
8 .... 0....
0 00
0
I'l ""r
,..P-

Re'
Q..
'D ....
d'

were a series of ridges, also stonefaced. Judging by what is known of sites a ~o8
o
~"'"
like Guayabo (Fonseca 1979), this was probably just a small part of Las
~ ;)W%~i!1: ..,
1! ~, 'p,,< i'_~\\1;:"' ....~4t
Mercedes, but apparently it did include the principal mound; today Las o : ." 0
o II
Mercedes has been totally destroyed by looters and agriculture. Costa Rica METER8

o~, ~: ~~~ 6\
Farm, less than 10 km from Las Mercedes, has two large circular mounds
with stairways adjoining a rectangular plaza delimited by stonefaced ridges;
a cobble-paved causeway connects it and another similar feature some 300 MOUND 2
(Culinary) l: q, ~
" ~~o 0"'••......'"
o.La. •
m away (Lothrop 1926: 462).
0°0. -~ '-~".1'_.
Here, La Cabana, a similar but smaller site excavated by the author while
•,.
Q"•
••o
·~ ..
employed by the National Museum, will be used as a descriptive model. It
is located between Las Mercedes and Costa Rica Farm (Snarskis and Herra
1980). Only a portion of the La Cabana site, containing the more prominent
main mound and the probable focus of the community, was exposed, as
Fig. 6 Plan of contiguous structures at the Barrial de Heredia site (A.D. 700-
was the case at Las Mercedes. At La Cabana, Mound 1 was also 20 m across 900). The quadrangular foundation at upper left had very little quotidian domestic
but only 2.5 m high. Adjoining it was a lower, circular mound with a refuse, but burials with numerous imported polychrome ceramics from Greater
projecting curved porch. Stairways from both mounds led into a square, Nicoya and a cast gold avian pendant were found beneath its floor. The lower
empty plaza, outlined by cobble-faced ridges that, upon closer inspection, rounded structure had many hearths, ovens, and quantities of culinary debris
proved to be arms of a double-walled, earth-filled enclosure that contained (carbonized maize, beans, monochrome pottery, metate fragments), but no burials
with polychrome ceramics. It is thought that it was involved in the domestic
tiny caches or burials with prestige grave goods. A cobble-paved causeway maintenance of the high-ranking inhabitants of the other structure, the largest
led into the plaza opposite the stairways of the two main mounds, after and best-made of eight found at the site. Museo Nacional de Costa P.ica, San
skirting a non-mound, circular house foundation of cobbles, some 12 m in Jose. Plan by Aida Blanco. .
diameter. It is significant that the major sites mapped so far for Period VI

]5 2
153
 Fig. 7 (opposite) Partial plan of the La Cabana site, eastern lowlands of Costa Rica
(A.D. 1000-1300). Mound 1 was 112 m higher and contained five times more
imported polychrome and local decorated pottery than Mound 2, which showed
metates still in place; a division of space and tasks by sex is inferred. Stairways off
both larger house foundations enter a quadrangular empty plaza opposite a cobble-
paved causeway. The plaza was surrounded by a double-walled cobble enclosure
that contained prestige burials or caches. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose.
Plan by Marcella Crump and C. Enrique Herra; photograph by the author.

\ ~
I ...c_ _ z
iI
I
\,

\ \
\

4
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4
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Uri
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Fig. 8 The La Cabana site during excavation. Museo Nacional de Costa
Rica, San Jose. Photograph by the author.

ISS
Michael J. Snarskis
in eastern Costa Rica-La Cabana, Costa Rica Farm, Las Mercedes, and
Guayabo--have a quadrangular plaza formed by raised ridges associated
with the principal mounds. This suggests a ritual or civic use, perhaps as
the focus of ceremonial encounters between the ruling group and the rest of
the population, or for the redistribution of goods (Figs. 7, 8).
Careful troweling of the house floors at La Cabana revealed that, although
all three circular structures uncovered had central hearths, only Mound 2
(the large, eccentrically shaped structure next to Mound I) had definite
domestic activity foci, composed of large, flat, river stones with marked
grinding wear, some with other stones as seats and manos still associated.
This evidence for functional difference between the two main structures
suggests that the inhabitants of Mound 2 had to do with the maintenance
of the Mound 1 residents. This interpretation is strengthened by a document
sent to the Spanish king by Fray Agustin de Cevallos in 1610, in which he
describes several customs of the people then living in eastern Costa Rica:
"They live in palenques, which are forts built in the native fashion ... the
chiefs have the women that they desire--all in the same house-and the
common people generally have one" (Lothrop 1926: 446, emphasis added).
Of further note is the strikingly higher proportion of imported Greater
Nicoya polychromes and other local decorated ceramics-painted and in-
cised/applique-associated with the principal Mound I, most seeming to
have been swept offit in cleaning activities. Mound 1 had five times as much
decorated pottery as the other excavated features of La Cabana.
Tombs for this period in the eastern and central regions of Costa Rica are
usually of the well-known stone cist type, which can be circular, ellipsoidal,
or rectangular. The excellent ethnographic work ofStone (1962) and Bozzoli
de Wille (n. d.) has allowed archaeologists to make feasible analogies between
prehistoric material culture and historic data of many kinds, but has been
especially valuable for funerary contexts. Thus, it is known that in this late
period the stone floors and lids frequently encountered in stone cist tombs
probably were the result of taboos against the deceased's body touching
earth, even in the tomb; in historic times wooden, not stone, slabs served
this purpose. Tombs are still found both under and around houses and in
separate cemeteries. Spanish artifacts have been found in stone cist tombs
by Hartman (1901) at Las Mercedes and Orosi, and by Stone (1977: 167) at
Tuis, Chirripo.
In the Turrialba valley, many architectural sites of this period exist. Ken-
nedy (n.d., 1975) describes mounds, cobble pavements, and an unusual
circular plaza (ridge-outlined) with several entrances at Najera. Originally
excavated by Carlos Aguilar (1972), the national park site of Guayabo de
Turrialba has been reinvestigated in recent years by teams from the Univer-
sity of Costa Rica. Always impressive, Guayabo had a paved entrance. This
causeway passes through a gate and stair guarded by two square mounds
156
The Archaeology ofEastern and Central Costa Rica
half a kilometer from the center of the site. A mound with nine stone
sculptures around it was excavated, and an architectural classification of site
sectors and features has been devised which seems to have a functional
significance (Fonseca 1979). Guayabo covers up to 1 km2 , including more
than fifty mounds and circular house foundations, roadways, stairs, and
even a complex underground water-control system composed of flagstone-
paved ducts. Cobble roads lead from it to other smaller sites many kilometers
distant.
The author has also mapped part of a large architectural complex, in-
cluding a paved causeway 9 m wide, at the site of La Zoila (5-ZT) near
Turrialba; this means that large centers like Guayabo, Najera, and La Zoila
(and Las Mercedes, La Cabana, and Costa Rica Farm in the lowland plain)
all lie within a Io-km circle. It remains to be seen if they were part of a
contemporaneously occupied site network (they all have similar ceramics
for this period) or were constructed sequentially in response to changing
cultural frontiers. Similar sites have been reported from the Cartago Valley
by Hartman (1901), Stone (1977). and Carlos Aguilar (personal communica-
tion), and the National Museum of Costa Rica has recently excavated sec-
tions of large stone cist cemeteries there, much like those described by
Hartman at Chircot and Orosi. The Aguacaliente site, just outside Cartago,
seems to be almost as large and complex as Guayabo (Vazquez 198 5).
Metates and manos actually sculpted for quotidian use declined sharply in
this period; instead, unmodified large, flat, river stones were used for grind-
ing and appropriate cobbles were used as manos. Decoratively carved ceremo-
nial mortars, trays, and metates, especially the tetrapod jaguar effigy metate,
are also diagnostic of this period, as are circular Atlantean and annular-based
forms. There is an increase in stone sculpture portraying human beings,
from seated sukia (shaman) figures and what look like individual portrait (or
trophy?) heads, to stylized poses of warriors holding an axe and a shrunken
trophy head, and females holding up their breasts. In previous periods,
representative stone sculpture was confined to ceremonial metates.
Along with Patricia Obando and Floryzul Cruz, University of Costa Rica
licenciatura students, the author supervised the excavation of more than
twenty stone cist tombs at the Rodriguez site, only 5 km from the summit
of the Irazu volcano, in 1985-86. The site had been surface collected by
Carlos Aguilar more than twenty years previously and was extensively
looted by civil defense teams working in the zone after the Irazu eruptions
of 1963-64.
In spite of these depredations, the Rodriguez site provided remarkable
evidence in support of elite trade in exotic goods after approximately A.D.
1000. Like virtually all late (post-A.D. 700) sites in eastern and central Costa
Rica, considerable quantities of Greater Nicoya polychrome pJottery were
found on the surface (Snarskis and Blanco 1978; Snarskis 1984a: 222;
157
Michael]. Snarskis

Fig. 10 Stone cist tomb (ca. A.D. 1000) with squared-off stone slab lid weighing
well over a ton, at the Rodriguez site, near the top of the Irazu volcano.
Fig. 9 View of other well-made stone cist tombs at the Rodriguez site. All artifacts
in Archaeology Laboratory, University of Costa Rica. Photograph by the author.

Snarskis and Ibarra 1985). Stone cist tomb structures, while mostly looted,
showed careful and unusual construction techniques, in which volcanic
flagstones were stacked horizontally like crackers to provide solid, iflabor-
intensive edifices (Fig. 9).
A surprise came in the find of two or three tombs (excavations were not
continued for lack of funds) with worked-stone slabs measuring 1.30 by
1.50 by 0.20 m placed as lids (Fig. 10). These stones, weighing an estimated
700 kg, had to be removed with jeep and cable. One may speculate on the
effort involved in bringing them to the site from lava flow-bearing valleys
hundreds of feet below. The tombs that they covered were found to be Fig. I I Beneath the floor of the
tomb shown in Fig. 7 were found
looted; however, in one case, the flagstone floor was seen to be basically a free-standing portrait head of a
intact. Knowing that some stone cist tombs contain more than one level, male, in andesite, and a sperm
we took up the floor and found an undisturbed earlier burial beneath. As whale tooth incised and perfora-
would be expected, the human skeletal material was in anatomical position, ted; it was probably a flute. It is
although more eroded than the casual scatter of human bones returned to shown here alongside a modem
sperm whale tooth (scale is 5 em;
the superior tomb by (probably) superstitious looters. teeth identified by J. Mead, Marine
Of greater interest were the grave goods: they included a small broken jar Mammal Program, Smithsonian
of the type Cartago Red Line; a human portrait head, free-standing, sculpted Institution). Photograph by the
in andesite; and a tooth of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon) (identified by author. J
J. Mead, Marine Mammal Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,

158
159
Michael J. Snarskis The Archaeology ofEastern and Central Costa Rica

D.C.) perforated to form an ocarina, or flute (Fig. 11). The artifact probably
had a flutelike mouth-piece of wood, now lost. The incised motifs on the
bone flute recall those seen on the ceramic type Tayutic Incised, defined by
Aguilar (1972) for central and eastern Costa Rica. Among the fill of this
two-level tomb were also found sherds, most forming one vessel, of the
Greater Chiriqui ceramic type Tarrago Bisquit (Linares de Sapir 1968). Since
many Greater Nicoya polychrome ceramics were found in the fill of the
same tomb, we are looking at obviously southern and northern trade goods,
in the form of ceramics, combined with what can only be described as a
special purpose exotic item that made its way to an isolated cemetery near
the top of Costa Rica's highest volcano.
The last one hundred years of Costa Rican prehistory seem to show a kind
of "Balkanization," with political attitudes augmenting at the expense of
theocracy. Sites, some looking like "city-states," are strategically located
for defense, almost certainly a reaction to increasing population pressure and
competition for resources. These were definitely RIC societies.
1. Environment: Site location determined by sociopolitical boundaries
and defense, as well as agricultural needs.
Fig. 12 Complex cast-gold pendant showing two male figures playing conch shell
2. Demography: Continued population growth and competition. Most
trumpets (post-A.D. 1000). Banco Central de Costa Rica, San Jose. Photograph by
striking is the agglomeration or density in some sites. There were apparently Dirk Bakker, Founders' Society, Detroit Institute of Arts.
fewer, but larger sites (some with a population of several thousands).
J. Subsistence economy: Less evidence at hand, but apparently similar to
previous period. Probably more trade of commodities, definitely strong
12). Access to non-local materials, like the polychrome pottery of Greater
redistributive systems. Clear task specialization and many elite sumptuary
Nicoya and other exotic objects, seems to have increased through time,
goods. although apparently dropping off in Proto-Conquest times.
4. Settlement patterns: Nucleated sites of various sizes arranged in a
Drug use apparently played an important role in ritual activities from at
fluctuating hierarchy. Probably mass use of corvee labor, labor-intensive
least several centuries before Christ; associated paraphernalia appeared dur-
complex constructions ofearth fill with stone facing. Burials strongly rank-
ing the time that sites and population were expanding rapidly, and, one
differentiated. assumes, sociopolitical organization was becoming more complex (A.D. 100
5. External relations: Regional trade (commerce?) in more functional
to 500).
items, as well as elite badges of status. Confederations of RIC societies.
The relative lack of large, complex architecture in this part of Central
America probably reflects the fact that such sites were not appropriate adap-
SUMMARY
tive responses to the tropical rain forest environment and were too costly to
maintain.
In summation, there seems to be considerable evidence, in the form of As postulated, I believe that there was a non-accidental relationship be-
special artifacts and distinctive features, indicating wealth and hierarchy in tween maize and associated elite symbolic materials and artifacts Gade-like
Pre-Columbian eastern and central Costa Rica beginning about 2,000 years stone, lapidary work emphasizing the "axe-god" or celt form, mace heads I
ago. Sophisticated works in the lapidary and stone sculptural media (we can digging stick weights, and elaborated ceremonial metates) and the earliest
probably infer similar skilled production in woodworking and feather-work) manifestation of wealth and hierarchy in the archaeological cultures of east-
imply the presence ofat least part-time specialists in these crafts. Later, when ern and central Costa Rica (ca. JOo B.C.-A.D. 100). As maize was certainly
metallurgy replaced carved greenstone, a similarly high level of technology known much earlier, its significance in the centuries around t~e time of
was maintained in the manufacture ofelite-associated sumptuary goods (Fig. Christ may have had to do with the appearance of better varieties or its role

160 161
Michael]. Snarskis
in new ritual contexts. To confirm this hypothesis, future research will
have to document changes in types of cultigens and/or their frequency of
occurrence, through the recovery of stratigraphically appropriate samples
of floral remains.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AGUILAR, CARLOS H.
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1975 El Molino: Un sitio de la Fase Pavas en Cartago. Vfnculos I (I): 18-56.
1976 Relaciones de las culturas precolombinas en el intermontano de Costa Rica.
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BOZZOLI DE WILLE, MARIA EUGENIA
n. d. Birth and Death in the Belief System of the Bribri Indians of Costa Rica.
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, 1975.
FINDLOW, FRANK J., MICHAEL J. SNARSKIS, and PHYLLIS MARTIN
1979 Un analisis de zonas de explotaci6n relacionadas con algunos sitios prehist6r-
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FONSECA, OSCAR
1979 Informe de la primera temporada de reexcavaci6n de Guayabo de Turrialba.
Vfnculos 5: 35-52.
FRIED, MORTON H.
1967 The Evolution of Political Society. Random House, New York.
HARTMAN, CARL V.
1901 Archaeological Researches in Costa Rica. Royal Ethnographical Museum,
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HOOPES, JOHN
1984 A Preliminary Ceramic Sequence for the Cuenca de Arenal, Cordillera de
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JORALEMON, PETER D.
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KENNEDY, WILLIAM J.
1975 The Appearance ofthe Chiefdom and Its Environmental Setting in the Reventazon
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n. d. Archaeological Investigations in the Reventazon River Drainage Area,
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LINARES DE SAPIR, OLGA
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1981 The Archaeology of Costa Rica. In Between Continents/Between Seas:
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Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo. Editorial Texto, San Jose.
SNARSKIS, MICHAEL J., and EUGENIA IBARRA
1985 Comentarios sobre el intercambio entre la gran Nicoya,la vertiente atlantica
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STONE, DORIS Z.
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Michael]. Snarskis
y su lugar en el tiempo. Proceedings of the 40th International Congress of
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7
196 5 Incised Slate Disks from the Atlantic Watershed of Costa Rica. American
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English) (Michael J. Snarskis, ed.), San Jose. MARK MILLER GRAHAM
AUBURN UNIVERSITY

ART-TOOLS IN THE ATLANTIC WATERSHED REGION Of COSTA RICA

The metate, the milling stone upon which so many of the

agricultural peoples of aboriginal America ground their maize, has
failed to receive its just share of the attention of archaeologists.
Metates, as a rule, do not make attractive museum exhibitions.
(Stromsvik 1931: 143)

ow IRONIC THAT GUSTAV STROMSVIK, participating in perhaps the

H greatest historically oriented research program in the history of

Middle American studies-the Carnegie Institution of Washing-
ton's project at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico-calls for more attention
to metates and yet does not acknowledge the famous carved metates of Lower
Central America. Even before Stromsvik wrote, some Middle Americanist
archaeologists were puzzled by the importance and elaboration of metates
and other tool forms in regions from Honduras to Panama, and especially
in Costa Rica (Hartman 1901, 1907; Lothrop 1926). Carved metates have
long been displayed in natural history museums, and more recently have
even been featured in such "blockbuster" art exhibitions as Before Cortes:
Sculpture of Middle America (Easby and Scott 1970) and Between Continents/
Between Seas: Precolumbian Art of Costa Rica (Benson 1981).
More than any other region of the Intermediate Area, the Atlantic
watershed region of Costa Rica maintained such a distinctive hybrid notion
of art-tools, or tool-symbols, in which figural images were integrated with
still-functional instrumental forms such as blades, staff heads, grinding
stones and seats (see map, Fig. 1).1 The Atlantic watershed is the climax

1 I want to stress that, in the main, these elaborate tools still retained sbme functional
potential. Some of the most elaborate melales have wear marks, and axe Blades are often
chipped. Pre-Columbian art generally has a much stronger functional component than we are

165
164